That's right everybody, it's Sarah time once again (well, it is 2 days since I last mentioned her). Via a blog by Max Blumenthal at The Nation, I wanted to give you all the opportunity to watch Sarah Palin receiving a blessing (see pic, right), designed to protect her from witchcraft, from Kenyan pastor Thomas Muthee, who is famous for having liberated his hometown of Kiambu from an evil witch, Mama Jane.

He appeared at Sarah Palin's former church, the Wasilla Assembly of God, in May 2005, when she was preparing to run for Governor of Alaska, and by skipping to around 7 minutes in the video below you can see the bit where Muthee brings Palin to the front (she left the Church in 2002, but that hasn't stopped her going there plenty of times since). He then prays over her, delivering some rather scary words.

I've done my best to transcribe it, but some bits are difficult to hear:

"Let's pray for Sarah. Come on, Halleluja, come on raise up your hands. Talk to God about this woman. We declare favour from today. We say favour, favour, favour, we say grace, my God. [Palin appears at the front]. We say grace be rained upon her in the name of Jesus. My God, you make room, you make ways in the desert, and I'm asking you today. We are asking you, as the body of Christ in this valley, make a way for Sarah, even in the political arena. Make a way my God. Bring finances her way, even for the campaign, in the name of Jesus. And above all, give her the personnel, give her men and women that will buck her up in the name of Jesus. We want righteousness in this state, we want righteousness in this nation, because you say ... [inaudible] ...

"Our father, use her to turn this nation the other way around. Use her to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to the fathers. So that the curse that has been along can be broken, in the name of Jesus. Father we thank you today. We're come against every hindrance of the enemy standing in her way today, in the name of Jesus. In the name of Jesus. Every form of witchcraft is what you rebuke, in the name of Jesus. Father, make her way now, in Jesus' name. Amen." [Palin returns to seat].

The Pastor Muthee video was known about before, but it's only just resurfaced. And Palin has previously spoken, in Wasilla Assembly of God, about how his blessing was "awesome", saying how she believes he may have helped her become Governor:

"As I was mayor and Pastor Muthee was here and he was praying over me, and you know how he speaks and he’s so bold. And he was praying 'Lord make a way, Lord make a way.' And I’m thinking, this guy’s really bold, he doesn’t even know what I’m going to do, he doesn’t know what my plans are. And he’s praying not 'oh Lord if it be your will may she become governor,' no, he just prayed for it. He said 'Lord make a way and let her do this next step'. And that’s exactly what happened. Very very powerful, coming from this Church."

You can actually see that speech from Palin on YouTube, included below, which includes an unnerving moment where she appears to nod along to the following words from another preacher:

"There were some things, about the natural resources of the state [Alaska], there are some things that God wants to tap into, to be a refuge for the lower 48. And I believe Alaska's one of the refuge states, come on you guys, in the last days. And hundreds of thousands of people are going to come to this state to seek refuge and the church has to be ready to minister to them."

I am a humanist and atheist, but I find fundamentalist atheists to be no less irritating than (and little different from)other varieties of fundamentalists.

Sarah Palin may be scientifically ignorant. But she is a highly ethical person, more plausible as an anointee than say Barack Obama, who has recently been uncritically anointed by some of the same people who pretend to be immune to such follies.